Upon reaching sexual maturity, a female hawksbill turtle will typically lay up to five clutches of around 100 to 140 eggs in a single breeding season and then wait a few years before nesting again.

Saturation tagging of nesting females indicates that at most sites the average female hawksbill lays between three and five egg clutches during a single nesting season, with indications that newly recruited females lay fewer egg clutches, and possibly fewer clutches in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.